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This is my second time out catching hairtails in Jerusalem bay on a kayak. A month ago I caught one hairtail and thought I could do better, I caught 3 hairy and dropped a dozen. Used 3 gang hooks but not a single hookup very fiddly pickers. Changed to treble hook better result but the sardine bait was to big for the treble hooks, so added two treble hook to thin steel rod. 100% solid hookup and fish could not shake to unhook.

Hi Raiders,
been a bit slack this year, been hitting the hairtail hard this year and cleaning up every session so far they are very hot on the bite went up to a spot inside JB hanged along the edges around 12m of water. Bite time has been hot in run in tide this season and red lights are the choice. Check out some photos of this year
cheers guys tight lines

Hey Raiders,
Havent posted in a while, have had loads of Uni Assignments and have been volunteering with a marine bio lab in USYD doing photo analysis.
Only times I've been able to get out have been late nights and for short periods, so have been sticking close to home, Cowan Creek. As a result, most my evenings are spent chasing Jewie or Hairtail. Last year i caught my first 2 hairtail just over legal, this year, have been doing A LOT better. Haven't fished any one spot, just move around looking for big schools of tailor, the hairtail are usually right under the. Caught probably close to 15 all between 1.1-1.6m but dropped countless more . Oh well that's fishing, catch em drop em it's such a good night out who cares!
Been getting several Jewfish as well, no beasts, all under legal, mostly after lots of burley, when there are plenty of yakkas below the boat. Am teaching a friend to fish, he caught his first jew going 65cm, he was absolutely stoked, I am pretty sure at this point seeing the joy on a mates face after his first jewfish is just as good as any fish caught yourself! Also got a solid tailor going 55cm.
Sorry for the mix-mash post!
Cheers,
Tag

Hey guys,
With all the rain about where are all the fish hiding? I cant figure the hawkesbury out at all .. and everytime i take the boat i seem to catch nothing.. I saw some massive scales obviously from a large jewfish at the ramp cleaning table but alas i do not know where to find any jews let alone anything else.. any help would be greatly appreciated
p.s. with all the fresh water about is anyone catching hairtail?
Tight Lines
Reubs

Hi everyone,
Had a short night session at Botany Bay tonight. Was running late but was able to catch the turn of tide between 7-9PM. It was a little bit windy but managed 7 tailor between 35cm - 46cm, a flatty at 39cm, an octopus (smallish didn't measure they freak me out so straight back in he went) and a PB hairtail at 140cm. Got back in as it started to pour. Was using whole pilchards and the octopus was caught on a 3.0 yamashita natural red.
Cheers,
Joe

Another fantastic Hairtail social this year attended by plenty of new and not so new fishraiders. The team of Donna ,me,Fiona and Stephen worked our fingers to the bone to make sure everything ran smoothly and even the weather on Saturday morning couldn't dampen our spirits.
First to arrive were Rod and Jay and seeing they were there when I said I would go through all the rigs and catching hairtail they both got my undivided attention. We re-rigged all their reels which were on the low side so backing was added and braid put back on and plenty of gangs I had made on pre-rigged single strand with Reggie Rabbits stash of red glow stiks they were set.
As the arvo moved on plenty of raiders signed on and it was great to catch up with old friends and new members alike,then it was time to hit the famous Scratchie hairtail spot ,well anywhere you liked in Jerusalem bay First to hook up was Scratchie and as I rounded the cape of good luck I spotted Scratchie and proceeded to do donuts around his boat for good luck...bye bye hairies
Then it was on for young and old and I anchored right on top of Trout Stalker and Jeff and they pleaded with me to give them at least 5 mts but you all know what I said @### off ...plenty of sledging began and we all scored hairtail to get our great social underway with some fish and a few monsters were lost boatside including Harold whopper that busted him off on his 47ft Riveria,nice boat by the way Harold.The weather was very mild and we all enjoyed ourselves until it was time to go to bed and get ready for a big Saturday Night.
Saturday dawned a bit overcast with a few showers but by the time it was hairy time again it was bright and sunny and I am pretty sure Ray Senior bought the sunshine with him and his very nice 22ft Trophy which I fished on Saturday night and Ray scored his very first hairtail.The young blokes aboard their Dad's boat didn't take long to start sledging either...yes that's you buggers Seamus and Gianni with their Dad Martin who was a very nice gent indeed.
"How big is your hairtail Stewy?" and to Scratchie "have you caught any yet" as they started to pole the Hairtail one after the other and show all the professionals up...BLOODY KIDS the bite was red hot for a few hours and everyone caught hairtail except Pirate Pete (TideNknots) who indeed won the pirate flag for doing donuts around Ray and I on Saturday night ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.There was some sort of dealing going on behind the scenes with everyone asking who has the REDS and all going to Reggies boat to score a bag with red things in them(glow sticks) he had the only stash...big dealer..made a fortune. The fish were measured and there were clear winners and losers. The next morning all gathered for a fabulous feed prepared by Stevie and Fiona whilst Donna and I tallied the scores.
The bloody kids had scooped the pool with Seamus bagging the biggest hairtail and his first of 1.25mts ..congratulations mate on taking out the social.
The ladies division was taken out by Ruth with Laurie as skipper...nice catching up with you both again and her fish was 1.2mts
The youngsters award went to Harold's son Jeremy with a nice 1.2 mt fish and his first as well.
On the same boat as Seamus was Gianni with a very credible 1.17 fish as runner up and his first hairtail as well.
Fantastic effort by all involved and congratulations to all the winners.
Pete scored the pirate flag and is already planning revenge after taking the flag off of last years winner Luke(trout stalker).
A few mentions go out to Luke who travelled all the way from Merimbula and the gang from Oberon ...James,Leanne and Brodie great effort from you all. Big thanks to Stephen and Fiona for all their awesome help from getting the food to cooking it all...it really means a lot. Last but not least Mrsswordie who is the guiding force behind all our Socials and the reason Fishraider is such a force to be reckoned with.
Already planning for next July and I hope to see you all there with your winter woollies on. P.S the losers are all the ones who decided to go Bluefin fishing and caught bugger all instead of coming to the social Regards Stewy and Donna

Hi Raiders,
Took my son for a try at hairtail last night in Waratah Bay. There was plenty of yellow tail in the bay and earlier in the day saw a large school of what looked like pilchards. Unfortunately the hairtail failed to showup. There were only three other boats in the bay one of which decided he needed to anchor 5 metres from me . He then quickly hooked my anchor rope , rather than spoil a good day by telling him what I thought of him we retrieved our anchor unhooked his gang hooks from the rope and moved well away.
I was told the chance of catching any hairtail last night was low as the tide wasn't right. It was low tide at sunset with high tide being the best. Has anyone else has any luck on the hairtail recently. I have heard reports of some small fish being caught.

Hi all,
Thinking of taking the annual trip up to Cowan creek to chase some toothy hairtail in the next few weeks, and was wondering if anyone has been up there yet this year and had any luck???
Not sure if they're there yet with the water being as warm as as it is at the moment.
Any info would be great.
Thanks

Hi Raiders,
Just returned back from a trip to Cowan on a 3 boat convoy, had a big can of V on the way home and now I can't fall asleep so what else am I supposed to do? that's right, put up a report on how we went.
Got to the ramp at 5:30pm, to see Formosan and co, and Basil (Groper) and Chris (Pongrass) already waiting with their boats. Had a quick intro and got the boats into the water, waited around for my deckie to only find out he piked on me last minute, so a solo session it is. But the good thing about that is, I get to use all the rods to myself LOL.
Started off slow, I couldn't get a yakka if my life depended on it, but soon enough I finally got one, got 2 fillets and whacked them on. Get hit straight away, and pulled in the hairy, then for the next couple of hours I was getting bite after bite, managed to pull in 8 hairys and a nice flattie, and missed half a dozen hairy hits as well. Managed a couple of soapies as well, and one of them took a tiny piece of pillie on my sabiki jig which was meant for a yakka LOL.
I think the other guys did pretty well themselves. Hairy season is still in, so go out there and get them =).

HAIRTAIL SOCIAL JULY 26TH TO JULY 28th 2013 THREE DAY EVENT (Friday noon till Sunday noon) See full details below Stop Press The swordies have hired their houseboat, maybe consider getting a group together and hiring one as well
The Social will be held on the waters of the Hawkesbury River (Cowan Creek) All attendees must sign in with the mothership that will be moored in Jerusalem Bay or Waratah Bay(Cowan Creek) before fishing and be registered as a Fishraider with any guests. If you intend to fish this social....please post your attendance here. All safe boating requirements will be adhered to as well as a NSW fishing licence. N.B this social is not a catered event but some coffee provisions or hot water will be available from time to time onboard the mothership. More details to follow. Just to clarify a few things about this years Hairtail : 1) Its FREE!!! All we ask is that you register before you start fishing. 2) The Mothership will be manned and ready from 1PM ( 1300) on Friday until we finish on Sunday Morning. 3) If you catch a Hairtail in the wee small hours of the morning , stick it in the esky , and show us in the morning ( we need our beauty sleep as well !) . 4) Its going to be cold . Very bloody cold , so please carry sufficient dry warm clothing . 5) The Mothership can be contacted on Ch96 , it will be monitored as long as we are awake . Please try to get your spot early , the usual haunts fill up pretty quickly , and there will be a lot of boats there. IF ANYONE HAS A SPARE SPOT ON THEIR BOAT PLEASE GRAB A NON- BOATER BY PM AND REPORT TO US ATTENDEES LIST swordfisherman & mrsswordfisherman
redback286 and Julie
Scratchie + deckie
mike2153 Reggie & Fiona
Laurie + crew
Deisel and Jew Stalker
Black Dragon Chimiria
Matt & Matilda Kenny
dhype + 2
Screaming Reel + 1
fishheadbreno + 3

Just a quick report on our haritail fishing trip to Waratah bay last night. Unfortunately they were missing in action. We berleyed with cut pillies and also used a variety of baits including pillies, live yellowtail and yellowtail fillets. There were plenty of yellowtail (jumbo and nice lollipops) around and also a few squid. We also tried a couple of other bays on the way back to Apple Tree Bay but nothing was showing on the sounder and didn't get a bite. Only half a dozen boats in Waratah Bay last night.
On a brighter note when we got back to the ramp there was a guy who had caught one small hairtail but it was a little strange in that it had a very short snout. We have caught hundreds of hairtail over the years and never seen one like this. Sorry no pics.
The water was a little dirty for Cowan Creek so perhaps this has put them off.

Have seen a couple of boats float fishing for hair in the past and wondering what people's opinions are on this technique. The boats I have seen most recently seemed to do fairly well. Can see it working well by allowing the fish to take the bait but was wondering what rig people have used and how effective.
Have seen some pretty funky coloured/flashing arrangements around people's baits too. Am tempted to try a rod with multiple colours on the one rig and see how it goes. Usualy just stick to my tried and tested red glowies.
Caine

A few weeks back, I hit a spot just outside Jerusalem Bay on the run-out tide where one of my boys caught a nice little jewfish just after dawn.
I thought I'd try again today, armed with fresh squid and tailor fillets (caught last week, and vacuum frozen).
Hit the spot very early, and burleyed up. The sounder was showing fish everywhere, but no bites at all for more than an hour. Even the pinkies still seemed to be asleep. It was pretty cold, even with a beanie and three layers of winter woolies on.
So I was glad when the sun peaked over the horizon, and I was just starting to think about switching spots when the reel zzzz'ed for a moment. It stopped. I waited, nothing else, and when I wound it up, the squid was gone. On goes a big fat slab of tailor, and down she goes, 15m down and 5m above bottom. A minute later, zzzz - nothing - zzzzzz - nothing --- nothing again -- zz! At this point I carefully take the rod out of the holder, and wait to feel the weight come on. But - only a very light tug. So I reel in a bit, and now I can feel a big pull... hard, steady. Then nothing... then on.. then nothing. and so forth, until one very surprised hairtail came over the side of my boat.
149cm, not too bad for an early season catch.
Caught on an un-weighted slab of tailor, #6 circle hook. The circle hook caught in the gill-rakers, and the hairy's teeth had nearly sliced through the 80lb trace.
No other bites for the rest of the day - but probably because I went to spots with better scenery than fishing.